January 03, 2012

Minnesota Morning: Economy, Wisconsin Fans Edition

Welcome to what is for most of us the first work day of 2012. Because this is a short work week it seems most people are using this as a ramp up to next Monday and the full week.

I might put myself into that category. I had hoped to get more done during the “slow” days of the end of December but I spent some time charging the personal batteries. So I will be using these next days to get to full speed by next Monday.

Economy

With the beginning of the month and year the next days are busy with some economic statistics coming out and mostly about jobs.

If those numbers hold and can be sustained the U.S. economy will finally slowly start to make a real dent with the unemployment situation.

A very unscientific job indicator I will be looking for over the next ten days is the number of Minnesota Recruiter Jobs I will post. Last year at this time it was as if a light switch was turned on. This year given the growth we have had in recent months I am expecting more of a light turning on but more of a dimmer switch that will gradually become brighter.

Iowa Caucuses

They are today. Thankfully. Finally. I am tired of hearing about them. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Super Bowl Ads

30 second Super Bowl ads sold for around $3.5M and were sold out by Thanksgiving. There are approximately 70 ads in a game not including pre game, halftime and post game. Yikes... that’s a lot of dollars.

Wisconsin Fans In Minnesota

I need to be careful with this one and will start with a disclaimer... I was born in Minnesota and am a hometown sports fan. Some teams I support more than others. The Gophers (all sports) clearly have my attention followed by the Wild/Twins, Timberwolves and lastly the Vikings.

Being a casual Vikings fan I am not as emotional about the Green Bay Packers. They have such a great history that deserves respect.

Here goes... (many) Wisconsin fans in Minnesota are whiners. When the Packers lost a couple of weeks ago ruining their undefeated season (many) Vikings fans were trash talking. Ironic given the horrible season Minnesota had. But given all the Packer glory we have been forced to listen to from the folks to the east the past 18 months I get why Vikings fans did some talking.

Same goes for the Badger fans here. When they lost those two games on final plays of the game some Gopher fans smiled and many celebrated.

Last night when they lost the Rose Bowl many Gopher fans were talking trash. And Badger fans are whining.

News flash... you live in Minnesota. What kind of response do you expect?

Wisconsin fans will reply that Minnesota fans are jealous. No doubt there is some truth to that but not the whole answer. Maybe if some of them were better winners the toleration level would increase. And maybe if they knew/remembered their history a bit more, specifically the Badger fans, they would remember what it was like to suck. Because they did for a long time prior to Donna Shalala and Barry Alvarez arriving in Madison.

Yeah, I went on too long with that one but I had to get it out and I also need a reference point for the next time this conversation comes up which I guess will be before lunch time today.

Links

No links today. I posted a bunch with yesterday’s Minnesota Morning post and with the holiday weekend there was less stuff to read.

Bowl Games

I went 6-0 yesterday and am 26-3 overall. I am not going by the point spread and no money is being bet. This is just me being a fan and making a prediction.

Comments

About & Connect

Welcome to the Minnesota Headhunter Blog. My name is Paul DeBettignies (pronounced De-Bett-ingz).

I started writing in 2005 to share thoughts and ideas I had as an IT recruiter.

Since then I expanded this site to include MN IT and recruiter jobs, links to Minnesota business news and promote the local tech community.

I am the Principal of Minnesota Headhunter, LLC a Minneapolis IT search firm and a frequent local and national speaker and article contributor on recruiter, HR, career, networking and social media topics.